Protesters in Ramallah burn photos of Trump

Palestinian protesters in Ramallah have again burned photos of US President Donald Trump and US Ambassador David Friedman.Similar protests have taken place in the West Bank since Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in December 2017.Earlier this year, Palestinians hanged effigies of Trump and US Vice President Mike Pence during a protest in the refugee camp of Aida near Bethlehem. The “execution” took place after a Palestinian kangaroo court found them “guilty” of conspiring against the Palestinians.In videos and pictures posted on several Palestinian media outlets on Tuesday, the protesters are seen burning the photos during a protest against the US administration’s recent decision to cut all aid to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees.In addition to Trump, the protesters also burned photos of US Ambassador David Friedman and US presidential advisers Jared Kushner and Jason Greenblatt.The protest on Tuesday took place outside the offices of the America House – the US Consulate General’s educational and cultural center in Ramallah.The protest was organized by the so-called National and Islamic Forces in Ramallah, a group consisting of various Palestinian factions, including Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s ruling Fatah faction.The protesters condemned the decision to halt US aid to UNRWA and called for the expulsion of all US officials working in the West Bank.Essam Abu Baker, one of the organizers of the protest, accused the Trump administration of seeking to “blackmail” the Palestinians and “abolish the right of return” for Palestinian refugees and their descendants back to their former homes in Israel.“The American decision is a declaration of war against UNRWA and the Palestinians,” he charged.Muwafak Sahwil, Secretary-General of Fatah in Ramallah who participated in the protest, also launched a scathing attack on the Trump administration and accused it of “aggression” against the Palestinians.